“Too ill to come to the surgery with the help of an adult, as a car passenger” at the time
Home visits are strictly for patients who are housebound at the time: “Too ill to come to the surgery with the help of an adult, as a car passenger”.
Please telephone us before 10.00am: The doctor does the visit rounds at lunch time between surgeries.
Please visit the surgery if you are able: The Surgery is fully equipped to facilitate your care. In the time taken to visit a patient at home four patients emergencies can be treated in the surgery.
The doctor may arrange for your visit to be by the community treatment team if that is most appropriate.
If you need an urgent visit at home because you are very unwell and you are not able to leave the house with the help of 1 other person and a car, and you do not think you are so unwell as to need an ambulance you can call our Community Treatment Team:
Tel: 0300 300 1660
The service runs daily, from 8am to 10pm, and consists of doctors, nurses, health care assistants, occupational therapists, social workers and physiotherapists who work with primary care, community services and healthcare partners at Queen’s and King George’s Hospitals so that people can receive medical, nursing and therapy interventions in their own homes wherever possible, without need for hospital admission.
Permanently Housebound
You do not need to have been delegated permanently housebound to have a home visit if you are too unwell to attend the surgery. If you are not permanently housebound it does NOT mean that you would not receive care from the practice or the NHS in your home if you needed it. It only means that your location of care will be considered based on the need at the time.
Wood Lane Medical Centre uses a common NHS definition of housebound as being unable to leave one’s home
- without the help of an ambulance, or similarly
- with the help of another adult and a car
In most instances a person may become housebound for a limited period of time when their ability to be moved or to move deteriorates due to an illness which will hopefully improve. In more rare instances a person may become long-term permanently and irreversibly housebound due to a significant adverse health event or a gradual progressive deterioration in long term condition(s).
We want you to give it significant consideration before you request that we designate you has long-term-housebound.
To qualify as housebound, you must be physically unable to leave your home with the help of others. Not having transport does not count. We can provide information about local taxi services or volunteer groups if needed, but we may also suggest asking a family member or friend for a lift.
What Are The Negative Service Implications Of Being Declared Long Term Housebound For Me and for My Neighbours?
All NHS and social care services will strive to deliver the best and most appropriate care for each individual patient, whether that needs to be in their home or in a clinic or otherwise. All services evolved their remote working during the COVID era. Most care is thus delivered remotely, but sometimes physical attendance is needed for assessment, tests or treatment.
DELAYS TO THE CARE OF OTHERS
Domiciliary (home based) attendance is clearly much more time consuming than a clinic-based service. Commonly 4-6 patients can be cared for in a clinic setting in the time it takes for one to be cared for in their own home.
DELAYS TO THE CARE OF THE HOUSEBOUND
Domiciliary services are often more difficult to access with longer waiting times and delays than clinic-based services eg phlebotomy (blood taking), vaccination services, physiotherapy, podiatry.
RISK OF COMPROMISED CARE
Clinicians do not have the same equipment and support in your home that they do in the clinic and thus their assessment or treatment may not be as comprehensive.
Do People Abuse the ‘Housebound’ Concept?
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for people to delegate that they are housebound
- whilst going out and about socially or accessing other services.
- but be found to have gone out when a clinician visits.
- For one clinician or service but not for another
- and to be seen walking out and about.
The time wasted by this directly delays patient care.